In 2010, we learned that my husband’s job would bring us from Japan to Singapore. Knowing that there were many special schools for my twins in Singapore, we were excited about the move. In fact we requested the company to move us even earlier, 2011. Negotiations brought us to Singapore by 2012.

Meanwhile in Japan, I was in what I thought the most tragic situation. Nathan was too old for Peter Pan Pre-School, German School did not have the resources to handle autism, even St. Michael’s, which accepts special-needs kids and where Nathan had a great interview (he must have answered 99% of the items, colors, letters, etc. right), rejected him. Marist School was starting to open up for special needs kids but again the familiar rejection letter. After Nathan’s official autism diagnosis, in about that period, I found myself crying every afternoon, asking God, “Why me? Why Nathan? When will I know why we have to go through all this?” Finally we found a wonderful Japanese School for special needs kids. It was great with the most wonderful teachers, but how far could Nathan’s communication improve if everything was in Nihongo? Still I had to keep searching…

Looking back I realize that all that was actually my blessing. If we had moved to Singapore earlier, we would have found a special-needs school and found some sort of comfort that Nathan would be ok. I wouldn’t have looked any further. I wouldn’t have tried Stem Cells or studied Applied Behavioral Analysis in search for what the best program was for Nathan. I wouldn’t have found the Son-Rise Program and realize that that was the right way to go.

In the end, everything that we
went trough was actually our blessing. Our Son-Rise journey continues to be our blessing.